1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a device for actuating a lock on a door or hinged lid. The lock is actuated by a manually toggled push button, which in certain situations acts on the input element of the lock, which is mounted on the door. In addition, the device has a lock cylinder, which can be actuated by a key assigned to it. By means of the key, the tumblers in the lock cylinder are moved from their normal blocking position into a release position. In the blocking position, the tumblers project out from the lock cylinder and interact with a blocking edge, which is essentially parallel to an axial plane passing through the axis of the lock cylinder. In the blocked position, the toggling motion of the push button is not transmitted to the input element of the lock. This transmission cannot occur until after the key has brought the tumblers into their release position and as a result are no longer able to interact with the blocking edge.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the known device of this type (DE 197 46 381 C1), the lock cylinder itself is the toggled push button. The lock cylinder consists in this case of a cylinder core, which holds the tumblers, and a cylinder guide, in which the core can be rotated by means of the correct, inserted key. The cylinder guide has at least one blocking channel, the lateral flanks of which serve as the blocking edges. After the key has been removed, the tumblers projecting from the cylinder core are supported on the blocking edges and therefore prevent the cylinder from rotating. In this known device, the blocking edge is stationary, whereas the tumblers can be rotated relative to the edge by the rotation of the cylinder core. So that the toggling movement of the lock cylinder can act successfully on the lock, the key, which has been inserted into the cylinder core, must first rotate the cylinder core with respect to the cylinder guide. If the key is not rotated, the toggling movement of the known lock cylinder has no effect, and the toggling motion is not transmitted to the input element of the lock, located behind the lock cylinder.
The user of the known device must therefore understand the sequence in which the actuations must be performed, namely, the rotation of the key and the pushing-in of the lock cylinder, which acts as the push button, and perform them in the proper order. In addition, relatively complicated components are required, which allow the toggling movement of the known lock cylinder to be transmitted when the tumblers are in the release position, but which, when the tumblers are in the blocking position, either block such transmission or simply allow the cooperating components in question to move freely without effect.
In a device of a different type, in which the tumblers do not interact with a blocking edge located laterally next to them (DE 199 27 500 A1), it is known that a lock cylinder can be installed nonrotatably in a cylinder guide. In the normal situation, the lock cylinder is prevented from being toggled. But after the key has been inserted, a linear toggling movement is possible, as a result of which the door is unlocked. Lateral blocking edges do not scan the tumblers.
The invention is based on the task of developing a reliable device of the type mentioned above which avoids the disadvantages indicated above. This is accomplished according to the invention by the measures indicated in the characterizing, clause of claim 1, to which the following special meaning attaches:
In the invention, the lock cylinder does not have to be turned by the key. It is sufficient for the correct key merely to be inserted, as a result of which the tumblers in the lock cylinder are moved out of their normal blocking position and into their release position. For this reason, the lock cylinder in the device according to the invention is installed so that it cannot rotate. In the invention, however, the blocking edge is free to move. The toggling movement of the push button is converted into a transverse movement of the blocking edge, which is oriented crosswise to an axial plane passing through the lock cylinder. This blocking edge scans the lock cylinder to determine whether or not at least one of the tumblers is still projecting or whether, as a result of the insertion of the correct key, all of the tumblers have been pulled back. That is, the presence of only a single tumbler in the blocking position is enough to prevent the transverse movement of the blocking edge. The input element of the lock is moved in the opposite direction exclusively by the transverse movement of the blocking edge. If this transverse movement does not occur, no force is exerted on the input element of the lock, and the lock is not actuated. No additional components are needed to make the toggling movement of the push button with respect to the lock effective or ineffective. The design of the invention is thus very simple.